Will Quincy Transit Lines routes be updated with new schools?

The city of Quincy is preparing a request for proposals for a route study. Recommendations in the study could include changes that would accommodate new elementary schools in Quincy. | H-W File Photo/Mike KipleyMichael Kipley1|

With the Quincy Public Schools' construction of new schools at different locations around the area and the soon closing of Vatterott College on North 36th Street, does Quincy Transit Lines have any plans to update the routes to accommodate these changes?

The city of Quincy is preparing a request for proposals for a route study for Quincy Transit Lines.

Quincy Transportation Director Marty Stegeman said recommendations from the route study and from the state based on the study would be reviewed and adjustments could be made.

"The process for a route study can last anywhere from six months to a year, depending how in depth they go," Stegeman said.

Buses already go by many of the four new elementary schools that are in the city limits. Lincoln-Douglas Elementary School is not in the city.

Bus routes already go by Baldwin Elementary School at 30th and Maine and Rooney Elementary School at 48th and Columbus Road. A bus route also runs by North 12th and Koch's Lane, just south of Iles Elementary School at North 12th and Hamann Lane.

However, buses don't pass by the Harrison Street school site at 4100 Harrison.

"We do get to John Wood (Community College), but then we come back to State Street because there are several places along State, including 36th, and there are places on 36th between State and Harrison that we currently stop," Stegeman said. "Is it possible that could change? I would say it's possible, but I can't say for sure because then we'd have to figure out how we are going to service the five or six places we stop on that State Street loop."

When Vatterott College closes in October, Stegeman said, a minor adjustment will be made to the route.

"We just turned in there and made that loop," he said. "We come south on 36th from there. We just won't make that loop anymore."

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